Route 33 fatality: Prison sentence on hold due to appeal

Monday

Apr 29, 2013 at 12:01 AM

By ANDREW SCOTTPocono Record Writer

Jaswinder Singh has been sentenced to state prison in a 2010 vehicular homicide death on Route 33, but the commencement of Singh’s sentence has been put on hold now that his attorney is appealing the case.

Meanwhile, Singh, 31, of Parlin, N.J., who won’t be transferred from Monroe County Correctional Facility to state prison unless he loses on the appeal, wants his bail modified.

This would enable him to go free from county jail while awaiting the judge’s decision on the appeal.A hearing on Singh’s bail modification request is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. today before Monroe County Court Judge Stephen Higgins, who sentenced him in March.

On July 5, 2010, Singh was driving south on Route 33 in Hamilton Township when his tractor-trailer went across the median and hit a northbound Toyota Corolla, killing driver and University of Scranton student Paul Miller, 21.

Singh, who witnesses said was speeding and swerving and is believed to have been distracted on his cellphone at the time, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to one to three years in state prison.

“How can he ask for bail modification after being sentenced?” asked an angry Eileen Miller, Paul Miller’s mother, after being notified Friday about Singh’s request. “I’ve never heard of such a thing. If he’s let out of jail, then my three-year fight for justice for my son will have been for nothing. He should stay in jail and serve his sentence.”

Under the Pennsylvania Criminal Procedure Rules, if a defendant’s sentence is a year or less, the defendant can seek a bail modification, defense attorney Michael Ventrella said.

“We’re saying his sentence is a year or less, because a year is the minimum amount of time he has to serve,” Ventrella said. “The prosecution likely will argue the sentence is more than a year, since it’s one to three years. The judge will decide.”

If the judge grants the request and Singh goes free on modified bail, he’ll be out of jail until the judge decides on the appeal. Conditions, such as surrendering his passport so he can’t leave the country, likely would be attached to the request being granted.

If the judge denies the request, Singh will remain in jail to await the decision on the appeal.

“In which case, I’ll then file a bail modification request on Mr. Singh’s behalf at the state Superior Court level, which is the next step up from the county court level,” Ventrella said.

Ventrella is appealing on grounds that the sentence imposed is too severe, saying Singh instead should have been sentenced to county jail or probation, so as to be closer to his family and children. The judge will consider Singh’s motor vehicle violations apart from this case, including one for unsafe driving a year after Paul Miller’s death, when ruling on the appeal.

If Singh loses on the appeal in county court, the defense can appeal in Superior Court and then state Supreme Court.